Rise of agentic web 'demands major marketing rethink'

Brands are being urged to start treating AI as a second audience as systems increasingly influence how consumers discover, evaluate and purchase products.

That is according to a new report by digital agency Dept, which argues that the shift towards an “agentic web” will fundamentally change customer journeys, with AI assistants taking a more active role in identifying needs, recommending products and facilitating transactions on behalf of consumers.

Rather than navigating websites and comparing options themselves, it is claimed consumers will increasingly rely on trusted AI systems to curate choices and make recommendations.

According to the report, this transition is already underway. It highlights the growing prevalence of zero-click search behaviour, the role of AI in shaping consumer trust, and the emergence of new behaviours driven by interactions with AI tools.

Dept argues that brands are moving from a digital environment centred on human users to one where both people and AI systems must be considered as audiences.

To address this shift, the report introduces the concept of business-to-agent (B2A) marketing, positioning it alongside established business-to-business and business-to-consumer approaches.

B2A focuses on making brands understandable and accessible to AI systems that influence consumer decisions. While traditional marketing priorities such as creativity, storytelling and emotional connection remain important for human audiences, AI systems favour structured information, consistency, transparency and trustworthiness.

As a result, brands are being encouraged to adapt their marketing and digital strategies to satisfy both audiences simultaneously.

The framework identifies three areas that brands should focus on as AI-mediated experiences become more common.

The first is influencing AI systems by ensuring consistent messaging across owned and earned channels. Websites, reviews, media coverage and online discussions all contribute to how AI models interpret and recommend brands.

The second priority is equipping AI systems to represent brands accurately. As AI-generated interfaces become more common, brands may have less control over how consumers experience their products online.

The report argues that organisations should invest in AI-ready design systems, structured content and clean product data to ensure accurate representation across dynamically generated experiences.

This could require a re-evaluation of traditional brand guidelines, which were largely designed for fixed digital environments rather than personalised, AI-generated interfaces.

The third priority centres on connectivity. Brands are encouraged to make information easier for AI systems to access and interpret, even if that means rethinking traditional approaches to proprietary data.

To illustrate the potential impact, the report outlines a future customer journey in which a consumer uses an AI assistant to develop a personalised fitness plan, receive tailored product recommendations and interact directly with a brand agent that understands their preferences and goals.

In this scenario, personalised advertising and dynamically generated landing pages support the purchasing process, reducing the need for traditional search behaviour and comparison shopping.

Rather than recommending large-scale transformation, the report suggests brands begin with targeted initiatives that can be expanded over time.

Suggested actions include conducting AI visibility audits, improving the consistency of product information across channels, establishing governance frameworks for AI optimisation, developing AI-ready data architecture and creating branded assistants and agents supported by governance controls.

Dept VP of emerging tech Isabel Perry said: “AI systems can only serve customers effectively if they can access reliable brand information quickly and cleanly. That means brands must rethink how much data they expose, how they structure it, and how easily AI systems can interact with it.

“The brands that are easiest for AI systems to understand, integrate with, and act on behalf of will increasingly become the brands customers encounter first. Meanwhile, companies that keep information fragmented, inaccessible, or locked behind outdated systems risk becoming invisible within AI-driven experiences.”

Rise of agentic web ‘demands major marketing rethink’

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